sue_deva

I was wondering if anybody has experience with a good company that will

cover both theft and mysterious disappearance while I am working in India

next year. (Technically, this is a non-paid assignment, so it might count as

travel and not as work.) I will be taking a Canon Elan 7 with two lenses, a

Contax 645 with two lenses, and a Canon XL1S (MiniDV) with two lenses.

(Also, a Mac Powerbook G4 for video editing and a Calumet 4x5 which I don't

think anybody is going to steal, so I might not get that covered.) Also, tripods,

etc. So maybe $10,000 or $12000 would cover it. My homeowner's insurance

(State Farm) has pretty big deductibles ($500), so I'm wondering if there's

something I can add on or just get separately that will cover me sufficiently.

Thanks for all the helpful suggestions. I did the dark room tests from every

angle. Finally, looking through the back and shining the light against the front,

moving it all around the lens and the lensboard, I saw a very faint, tiny

pinhole. It seems to be somewhere around the lens/lensboard, and it is fairly

well-centered. It's so faint that I am having trouble finding it, but I should be

able to once I re-collapse the bellows and put the flashlight inside. Now I have

looked through other negatives with the ghost image and have realized that

all of the ones with ghosts were ones with VERY long exposure times. Now

the only problem is that the 1/2 second and 1 second shutter times are off, but

hey--I'll post another question about that...

I'm not really sure that this is the best category in which to post this question,

but here goes: I'm using an old Calumet monorail. Most of the time, it seems to

work pretty well. However, sometimes (under varied conditions), I get

When I had the camera checked out at the time of purchase, I was told that it

seemed to be fine and working perfectly but that the lens showed initial signs

of separation. There don�t seem to be any bellows holes that would cause a

pinhole image, so does anybody have any ideas? I've included an example of

one of these negatives. Sometimes, shooting under identical lighting

conditions and with only minutes between exposures, some very similar

negatives will have these 'ghosts' and some won't.<div></div>

I'm switching to medium-format (I think) for a year-long project in Asia where I

will be doing composed shots of people and still life as well as more fast-

paced photojournalism-style photography. Right now I have a 35mm Canon

EF system and an old Calumet 4x5 monorail. The Calumet is in decent

condition but takes forever to set up. The Canon works wonderfully, but I have

a penchant for printing things large (20x15"; 24x36" probably being the

largest). Because 35mm can't really support those kinds of enlargements

under non-ideal conditions, and because 4x5 is a pain when you are taking

pictures at other people's convenience/without their knowledge or

coöperation, I thought that medium-format might provide a good compromise

between image quality/resolution and ease of use. I really like the idea of the

6x6 format, but it doesn�t seem as if there are any cameras out there that

combine this format with the ease of use and technological level of, say, the

Hasselblad H1 or the Contax 645 AF. I do NOT need the best AF technology,

as I only use AF one time out of a hundred. However, what I do need is good

built-in metering, automatic film advancement, and the ergonomics and

miscellaneous factors that would allow composition and image-capture to

take place with ease comparable to that of a 35mm system. (Something of a

fantasy, but you get my drift�) If I spend over $3500 on a kit, I will be likely to

sell it when the year is up. So while I would usually never dream of buying,

say, an H1, as long as the resale price holds firm, I wouldn�t mind the

depreciation if I get to use it for a year. Basically, is there any way to take

photos quickly and easily with a camera that uses 6x6? If not, what is the

6x4.5 that best fits the bill?

I accidentally selected "Format" on my Canon S230 and erased all the

pictures on the CF card. I have Mac OSX and I was wondering if there are any

programs on Mac or on anything else (but preferably on Mac) that can be

used to recover such data. (Is there a drive recovery option built into the

system software?) Any other suggestions?

Hi. I was wondering if anyone has any experience with this: I

need to make some slides of (non-digital) prints I made. I could

either use copy lights and take pictures of my prints with

Ektachrome and have slides made from those, which would be

a long and time-consuming process, or I could scan the prints at

high resolution and send them to a place that makes slides from

digital prints. That sounds a lot easier, but I was wondering if

anyone could give me an idea of the relative quality of the slides

that can be made from digital images. Also, any experience with

specific slide-printers (esp. around NYC) and a ballpark

estimate of expenses for digital slide duplication would be much

appreciated.

Hi. I was wondering if anyone has any experience with this: I

need to make some slides of (non-digital) prints I made. I could

either use copy lights and take pictures of my prints with

Ektachrome and have slides made from those, which would be

a long and time-consuming process, or I could scan the prints at

high resolution and send them to a place that makes slides from

digital prints. That sounds a lot easier, but I was wondering if

anyone could give me an idea of the relative quality of the slides.

Also, any experience with specific slide-printers and a ballpark

estimate of expenses for digital slide duplication would be much

appreciated.

Are you sure that you want to go with these super-zoomers? I would advise you to get at least one set focal-length lens from Canon's EF range. They are quite good. I hear the 28-200 from Canon has good sharpness, so I would go for that and save yourself the extra money, which you can then spend on a fixed F-L macro lens or a prime 135/200 lens. I have no idea how good the Tamron version of the 28-200 is. There are charts and reviews for this sort of thing, though, so I would just look on Google to figure out how they stack up. If they're close, then save yourself some MORE money and get the Tamron. Hope this has helped somewhat.

P.S. Also, the temperature extremes might screw up the

elements and the cement holding the elements in place. Never

having tried this solution, I can't say how effective it would be, but

the more I think about it, the more unlikely a cure it seems. Sorry

I mentioned it.

A sometimes-effective cure for fungus growth is to expose the

afflicted part of the lens to lots and lots of direct sunlight. This

worked reasonably well for me once; it should at least arrest the

problem in its current stage while you consider your options.

Some people also suggest exposing the lens to extremes of

heat and/or cold, but given the hardiness of fungal spores and

the likelihood that your lens contains at least some plastic

components, I'd be wary about recommending that.

P.S. I have found replacement screws, but they are all for Bogen

Hex QR plates, which I have used but about which I doubt/have

no real knowledge of possible inter-system compatability.

I recently purchased a Davis and Sanford model 'B' camera; it

seems pretty old, maybe in the range of 15-20 years, but it was

solid and a good deal at $50. The thing is, I am now unable to

find the mounting screw for the camera, which makes the tripod

effectively worthless. Does anybody know where I might obtain a

replacement mounting screw? It's whatever the standard size is

(1/4", it seems) and the screw fits onto the head in a sort of

'keyhole' track (where the track is of a uniform width but is slightly

larger at one end so that you can fit the screw through but so that

it stays locked in place throughout the rest of the track). So I

guess that means that the run of the screw track is less than 1/4"

wide, whereas the inlet at the end is slightly more than 1/4" wide.

Anyway, does anybody have any suggestions on how/where to

order a replacement screw? Would I be better off rigging one up

for myself with parts from a hardware store?

 

Thanks!

-Rafil

Hi. I am switching to the EOS system (from older Pentax

equipment) and I had a few questions about which camera

might be best for my particular purposes. I know most of the

technical specs, so this question especially goes out to those

who have used one or more of these cameras.

 

First, do any of these three cameras have relatively simpler or

more intuitive manual-mode operation with the body controls? I

plan to use full-manual most of the time, so I need to be able to

change shutter speed without scrolling through five menus every

time I want to make an adjustment. (You may respond by asking

why I am so interested in the 'E' function. True, I will probably

have it off 90% of the time, but I think it would be useful for the

other 10% of the time when I am shooting from the hip.)

 

Second, do any of these bodies have interchangeable focusing

screens? I really love the old-style split-circle reference and I

have never actually used a laser-matte screen for fully manual

focusing. Is it a big pain? If so, (or even if not), can I get an

older-style screen for the body?

 

Finally, I gues there is the question of price. I have found that

new IIE's and 7E's do not have a big enough price difference to

recommend the former over the latter solely for price reasons. I

have found a new A2E body for about $30-40 more than the

cheapest 7E body price, so that is also not a big difference. Is

there anything, tangible or intangible, that would make one of

these models immensely more attractive to an old-fashioned

manual-mode user? And is the A2E significantly more rugged

than the 7E?

 

(Also, for users of the A2E, do you find that the camera's inability

to perform eye-controlled focusing in vertical orientation is a big

problem/annoyance?)

 

Answers or suggestions concerning any of the questions I have

asked would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

-RKZ